Chandamama facts for kids
| Categories | Children's magazine |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Founded | 1947 |
| Final issue | 2013 |
| Company | Geodesic Limited (formerly Geodesic Information Systems Limited) |
| Country | India |
| Language | Telugu, Tamil (as Ambulimama), Kannada, Sanskrit, Assamese, Hindi, Odia (as Jahnamaamu), English, Marathi(as Chandoba), Malayalam (as Ambili Ammavan), and Bengali |
Chandamama was a classic Indian monthly magazine for children, famous for its illustrations. It also published long-running mythological/magical stories that ran for years. Originally, "Chandamama" was started in Telugu by B.Nagi Reddy and Chakrapani, noted Telugu Film makers. It was edited by Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao, a very close friend of Chakrapani and a literary colossus in Telugu Literature, who edited it for 28 years, till his death in August 1980.
In 2007, Chandamama was bought by Geodesic, a Mumbai-based software services provider company. They planned to take the then 60 year old magazine into the digital era. However the magazine is currently defunct as Geodesic itself was found defaulting on outstanding loans and was ordered to be wound up by the Mumbai High Court.
As of July 2016, the current status of the magazine is unknown - as the parent company Geodesic is under the liquidation process and the Chandamama brand and IP is expected to be sold off in due course. The official website of the magazine was allowed to expire and drop by the magazine owners and the current website is not associated with the Chandamama magazine.
Contents
The Magazine
The main features of Indian Mythology was completely written by Kutumbarao, who also developed the magazine by encouraging young writers in Telugu and adapted them to suit the Telugu written style that he made so popular in Andhra and the Telugu speaking people for decades. Some of the stories and the folklore features were written by Dasari Subrahmanyam, who made serials like Patala Durgam, etc., also very popular.
It was revamped in November 2008 and had gone contemporary in terms of language, presentation, artwork, and content. While it continued to carry old favourites like Vikram-Betal and mythological tales, there were several new additions including contemporary stories, adventure serials, sports, technology, news pages, etc. Considering the new trends in children's literature and the emerging importance given to academic study and analysis of the same, Chandamama had striven to keep its editorial policies in line with the times. As the oldest brand in the field, Chandamama had taken up the responsibility of delivering entertaining, sensitive, and educational literature for its young readers.
Chandamama was published in 13 languages (including English), and had a readership of about 200,000.
Unique style of storytelling
The magazine started the unique trend of telling a story, almost always bound by a common thread of moral values, with a grandparents' style of storytelling in the most flexible third-person narrative mode, on print.
The stories published have been drawn from numerous historical and modern texts in India, as well as from other countries. Mythology, epics, fables, parables and even useful hearsay were spun suitably to feed the impressionable minds so that they seek the right direction in life, even while entertaining them thoroughly.
The stories embedded in the never-ending story of King Vikramāditya and Vetala (Vampire), an adaptation of an ancient Sanskrit work Baital Pachisi, brought wide repute to this magazine, and were also featured in popular TV serials. In each issue, the Vetala, in order to prevent him fulfill a vow, poses a typical catch-22 question to king Vikramāditya, involving a moral dilemma. The wise king answers correctly, and is thus defeated by the Vetala, forcing the king do it all over again and again.
Ownership
The magazine has been in family hands since foundation, and the current publisher, B Viswanatha Reddy, continued the tradition after taking over the affairs of the magazine from his father. In 1999, the company was floated as a public limited organization, with Morgan Stanley taking a sizable stake in the company.
The last editor was Prashant Mulekar of Geodesic.
In August 2006, it was reported that Disney was set to buy a stake in Chandamama. In 2007, Chandamama was acquired by technology company Geodesic Information Systems
As of July 2016, the current status of the magazine is unknown - as the parent company Geodesic is under the liquidation process and the Chandamama brand and IP is expected to be sold off in due course. The official website of the magazine was allowed to expire and drop by the magazine owners and the current website is not associated with the Chandamama magazine.
Chandamama in the 21st Century
With the acquisition by a technology company, Chandamama has announced that it will digitize and make available much of its content via digital libraries and on the web. In addition, Chandamama Multimedia CDs have also been published.
In late 2007, Chandamama released its revamped internet presence to better cater to readers who demand information and content beyond the printed publication. It has also tied up with satellite radio service provider Worldspace to bring the Indian storytelling tradition live through radio.
In July 2008, the publication launched its online portal in Telugu, English, Hindi and Tamil. It declared that all 60 years publication in all Indian languages would be put online soon.
Chandamama has stopped publishing in all languages from March 2013, without issuing any press release and without giving any notifications or refund to subscribers. A message was given on the official Facebook page of the magazine on 30 May 2013 saying that they could not publish issues from March 2013 because of technical problems, and the magazine would restart publishing from July 2013 onwards. However, the official website of the magazine also went down in July 2013, saying "We are currently doing some enhancement and upgrades to the website. We will be back soon."
In July 2016, the original website of the magazine was allowed to expire by the parent company and it was dropped. Currently, the website is no longer associated with the Chandamama magazine or the parent company.
In Aug 2017, Website chandamama.in Link has started by volunteers to preserve the Chandamama culture for future generations. This website has more than 10 languages and growing with the community support. Website provides access to old magazines for free of cost.
- Chandamama at the Grand Comics Database
Images for kids
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Chandamama Magazine team in 1952
